Chapter 33
Gen was tired. It was after midnight and most passengers had fallen asleep on the flight. It had been a smooth one. As they came in low on approach to Tulsa, she looked out the window of the plane and thought about how much her life had changed from this time last week. She wondered just how much more change would take place in the next few weeks. The potential was frightening. Perhaps because she was exhausted, maybe because she just had too many emotions coursing through her head right now, but either way, as she watched the city lights streak beneath her, she started to cry. They were tears that she couldn’t quite stop. It wasn’t a messy or noisy cry thankfully, but a good therapeutic one. She needed it; the release was invigorating.
Stepping off the plane into the quiet airport amidst all the businessmen whose sleepy families waited to welcome them home, it felt suspiciously like she’d never been gone. Her life of the past week seemed almost like a dream and if she weren’t lugging the baggage around to prove it was real, she would have guessed it wasn’t.
Stacey was sitting there patiently, reading a magazine. She looked up when Gen walked over. She could tell immediately that she’d been crying. “Gen, honey, you don’t look good. Are you ok?” She put her arm around her shoulder.
“Yeah, just a good healthy cry, that’s all.” It was a feeble excuse, but not entirely untrue. She knew Stace would dig deeper. “We can talk all about it when we get home, but right now, I just want to get my stuff and get out of here.”
They snatched her luggage off the carousel and Stacey took Gennie home. It was a quiet ride with just the radio playing in the background. When they reached the house, Gen invited her in, “I’d really like to talk, I’ve got so much to tell you. If you’ve got time…I know it’s late. We can wait till tomorrow, if you want.”
“Gen, you know I’m dying to know what’s going on. Josh isn’t even expecting me home tonight. I figured I’d just crash here, if that’s ok. That way we can talk all night and I can sleep in…. pretend I’m not a mom!”
As they drug her stuff into the house, Stacey noticed the toys. “Gen, these aren’t for my kids, are they? They’re awfully extravagant.”
“Yeah,” she said with obvious pride. “You think they’ll like ‘em? I thought they would.”
“Duh! Of course they’ll like them! But, my god, how much did you spend? This is crazy!”
Gen took a seat on the couch. “That’s part of what I want to talk to you about.” She patted the seat urging Stace to come sit down. “See, Stace, John bought those toys.”
“John? John Rzeznik? He bought toys for my kids? Why?” She sounded confused and a little shocked, to be honest.
Gen took a deep breath. Where should she start? “Well, see, I was shopping for trinkets for them and...”
“Those sure as hell, aren’t trinkets!” Stace interrupted.
“I know. I was shopping for trinkets for Meggy and Alex and he saw the truck thing and thought he had to have it, so he bought it,” she shrugged. “The doll is from a store that he highly recommended.”
“He’s a nice guy, I guess.” She looked over at the packages and shook her head. Then it dawned on her, “Wait…. He went shopping with you?”
“Mmm hmm,” Gen nodded with a smile that led her to believe there was more to this story.
“Ok, Gen. Spill it. From the beginning. What happened this week?”
Gennie burst out laughing. “How can I possibly tell you everything that’s happened in the past week? God, Stace! It’s been unreal, that’s for sure. Two weeks ago, you and I were in Dallas meeting them for the first time. And now, well, who knows?” She made herself comfy on the couch. “We went out in Minneapolis and had a great time. He danced with me…a lot.” She could see the stunned expression on Stacey’s face and found it rather amusing. “We were really drunk at the time,” she giggled.
“C’mon, get to the good stuff,” she said with a grin.
“We spent a whole day together in St Louis. We went out and had so much fun! The whole day, just the two of us- no cameras!”
“Really? This wasn’t part of a publicity stunt?”
“Well, no.” She hated when Stacey was so skeptical. She wanted her to be happy for her, and she probably was, but she was being too practical- entirely too much a mom. “That night we, uh, fell asleep watching TV in my room,” she blushed; Stacey would never believe that.
Of course, Stace eyed her with suspicion, “Yeah, right. What you’re telling me is you slept with him.”
“Well, we did sleep together…just not like you’re thinking.” Gen exhibited her best wry smile, “That was the next night.”
Stacey screamed and they giggled like schoolgirls. “No way! You really did? I’m very impressed.”
“So was I,” she admitted, wide-eyed, with a smile that couldn’t be erased.
“God, Gen…That’s so…WOW!” She was more than a little speechless.
“I had a lot of fun on this trip- thank you MTV!” Gen was still laughing.
“Wait, was this just a chance thing? A drunken fuck?”
“No we were together pretty much constantly the next few days. I even stayed in his room. You wanna see what he bought me? I mean, we had a really good time.” She dug through her bags and pulled out the necklace and the dress and shoes.
“What the hell is that?” she eyed the dress suspiciously.
Gennie’s huge smile conveyed the pride in her accomplishment. She brandished the items like trophies. “He bought them for me. It was…kind of a game, I guess.”
Stacey took the jewelry box in her hand and admired it. “Tiffany’s? Man, the guy is good. He gave you these as a game?” She saw Gen looking more thrilled than she’d ever seen her. She could tell she was crazy about this guy, but she wanted more than anything to keep her from getting hurt. “And now you’re going to Buffalo? Do you think he’s leading you on? Maybe he’s just in it for the fun of teasing you. I don’t want to burst your bubble,” she added with a shake of her head, “it just doesn’t seem very likely, that’s all. Expensive gifts don’t mean much to a guy with plenty of money. I don’t want you to get your heart broken.”
She watched as Stacey pawed at the necklace admiringly. She wished she could convey her feelings about him to her without sounding pitiful; at the moment, that wasn’t happening. “He told me he loved me…a favor which I haven’t returned, by the way.”
Stacey set the jewelry box down on her lap, cocked her head to the side and gave Gen a look of disdain. “He bagged you, sweetie. Of course he’s gonna say that.”
“Well, Stace…he dumped his girlfriend…”
“That’s what he told you? You believed him?” Once a skeptic, always a skeptic.
After her conversation with Robby, she’d never really thought about it. If he were, in fact lying, that would mean that Robby was in on the scam. She didn’t think so. “Look, Stace, I know it sounds crazy. Believe me, right now you sound more reasonable than I do, even to me. But there really seems to be something between us. And,” she pursed her lips and took on the face of a guilty child, “I think I love him.”
Stacey viewed her with eyes expressing something akin to pity, “Gen, did he at least give you a phone number where you can reach him?”
She’d hit on a raw nerve. This was what was troubling her. She stared out the window into the darkness as she tried to hide the tears that she knew were coming…if only she could hold out until she went to bed. “No,” she finally admitted. She was going to add, ‘but he said he’d call me!’ but didn’t want Stacey to feel any more sorry for her than she already did.
“Aw, Gennie, sweetie,” she tried to comfort her. “Maybe he’ll call you in a few days. He’s a busy guy.” Stacey didn’t believe her own words for a minute, but she had to say something. She knew Gen was close to tears again; she figured this was the reason she’d been crying on the plane. The best thing for her right now would be to cry it out on her own, without anyone watching or asking questions. If she needed to talk, they could do it in the morning. “Listen, it’s so late and I know you’ve gotta be dead tired, so why don’t you go to bed. Don’t worry about picking up this junk. We’ll do it in the morning.” She gave her a compassionate smile.
She knew why Stace was doing this, and she appreciated her friend for always being there, even when it meant not being there. “Thanks Stace.” She hugged her and shuffled off to her room.
She looked at her bed and remembered what they’d discussed earlier about the stuff you miss most. Maybe she’d feel differently once she climbed between the sheets, but right now, she would give almost anything to be back in Johnny’s bed and in his arms, enveloped in the spicy scent of his skin. Her big, empty bed just seemed to be mocking her now. She thought she’d put it off, if only for a few minutes, and decided to take a shower, ‘always the best place to cry’, she thought.